Bones oneshots working title
by Catherine Chen
Summary: A series of Bones one-shots in response to scenes from the series. Same dialogue, but with added emotion and thoughts.
1. Chapter 1

So…for a while I've wanted to write some Bones one-shots, especially during the Princess and the Pear when Booth was rambling on the phone to the blond agent about taking care of Brennan. That was adorable. Anyway, this is the start to hopefully a series of one shots that addresses some cute scenes like that from the series. Please enjoy. PLEASE REVIEW!!! Much love, Cat.

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"So…you found out where the meteor came from?" he asked turning away from her and trying to act somewhat nonchalant, as though he hadn't been eagerly awaiting seeing her again to engage in more of the verbal sparring he found so amusing. He also turned away to clear from his mind the picture she made as she walked down the hall, her dark hair swinging about her face and her hips swaying just the tiniest bit side to side in an incredibly alluring way despite her straight no-nonsense gait and the staid black and white suit she wore.

"From the solar nebula," she teased with the knowing smile she reserved just for him whether he or she was cognizant of that fact.

"Right, anything more current than that?" he questioned, his frustration from the chaotic information session earlier not having been fully eased.

She grinned, her teasing look confirming that she understood his frustration and was pleased that he had liked her joke.

They turned as they heard Hodgins yell.

At the explosion, Booth reacted instantaneously and instinctively, finding the nearest wall to push her against so he could shield her from the impact with his body.

Brennan spared a glance for the explosion, wondering if anyone was hurt, if the equipment had been damaged, and why Hodgins would bother with an experiment that had no scientific value or relevance to the case. She had told them it wasn't pertinent to their investigation.

Booth, however, though only of her, his focus centered on protecting her to the full extent of his abilities, his gaze never wavering from her face. He only allowed himself to take a breath when the palms of his hands connected with the hard concrete of the wall.

She turned back to him, her blue-gray eyes meeting his dark brown ones as adrenaline pumped through her and irrationally a grin almost flashed on her face. Temperance thrived on this sort of excitement, the rush of being caught in a dangerous situation. Furthermore, she was female and not exactly immune to the feel of his hard and impressively muscular body pressed up against hers.

"What the hell was that?" he asked, still not taking his eyes off of her.

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If this seems a little intense, it's because I watched the episode on hulu, constantly going back and rewatching bits to catch little things here and there.


	2. Chapter 2

_Oh, that appeared to be painful_. "You okay?" she asked softly, taking his chin in her hand so she could tilt his face to the side and inspect the damage. She framed his jaw with her slim, long fingers.

"Yeah, I'm alright," he reassured her. "You know what? You're the only smart person I really like," he said honestly, relieved that this mess was finally over and he wouldn't have to spend any more time with anyone from this exalted and completely psychotic institute.

"Thank you," she said brightly, her mouth curving into a grin, her hand on his face becoming mildly caressing before she pulled away, still pleased by his comment.

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"Wow, that is cold," he finished.

"And creepy?" she queried, her mouth curving uncertainly around the simple layman adjective, still somewhat upset by his previous comment regarding her nature and behavior at certain times of their acquaintance.

Booth took a deep breath before turning to her. He knew he had to handle this carefully, as he stared into the wide-eyed serious gaze that held a bit of hurt in their depths. "I didn't mean to call you creepy," he told her in the way of an apology.

She tilted her head to the side. "You said I have a creepy mode," she pointed out, stating the facts of the situation.

"I apologize. OK, look, I wasn't in my element," he admitted, sincerely regretting saying something to upset her so greatly that she was still affected by it now.

She laughed slightly. "Well, every element is your element," she said, revealing once again her slightly envy at his ability to adapt so well to every situation but now accustomed to the fact that he was capable of things that she was not.

"No, that is not true," Booth stated. "Listen," he said sighing, "we just got to stop hanging out with geniuses, because…you're going to figure out that I'm really stupid," he admitted to her, both to shift the focus from her own insecurities and assuage her concerns about her 'creepy mode,' and to reveal to her one of his greatest fears. Maybe someday she'd realize she didn't need him around and all of his attempts to impress her with his knowledge and sense of humor would amount to nothing and they would never…

She frowned. "What? Don't worry about that. I…figured out a long time ago how stupid you are," she told him in an attempt to develop a reasonable argument to comfort him, only realizing once the words were out of her mouth, how they sounded.

"Hmn."

Brennan realized she had made a mistake and tried to correct her error. "What I just said…is true," she admitted, "and yet it really sounded wrong," she said, not quite able to meet his gaze. _Why was she so terrible at human interaction? _A fact should be correct no matter how it was phrased, but in conversation, sometimes word choice was given a vastly disproportionate amount of importance. "What I should say is that I don't care how stupid you are."

He stared straight ahead not trusting himself to speak at that moment. _Great, yeah, he really hated this case right now._

"It's not any better?" she asked, already fairly certain that it wasn't.

He narrowed his gaze. "No," he replied, turning to face her. "No, not at all," he said, shaking his head as he returned his gaze to the table in front of him.

(skipping some dialogue here)

"But then there's another quality, which is the ability to use intelligence, that is what you have," she concluded, hoping that this would finally do what she had been trying to accomplish and ease his concerns without resulting in insult due to her poor choice of words.

He stared at those clear blue eyes for a moment, considering what she had said and her attempts to persuade him. "Thanks, Bones," he said smiling, knowing that in her roundabout way she had just confirmed that she did need him.

She smiled in return, a little part of her softening at his use of the charming smile, which, however irrationally triggered a metaphorical fluttering in her stomach and warmth in her heart.

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And this concludes the episode The Science in the Physicist.


	3. Chapter 3

And now...here is _The Cinderella in the Cardboard_. This episode combines so many of my favorite things, a fairytale reference, weddings, murder investigation, banter...love it.

**PLEASE REVIEW** and tell me **SPECIFICALLY** what you liked and what you didn't. Much love, Cat.

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"You cut her toe off so she could fit into a pair of...shoes?" Booth asked, amazed at the lengths to which a woman would go to adhere to the standards of beauty and how a doctor could aid her in her ridiculous quest for some sort of arbitrarily defined perfection.

"Self-mutilation for antiquated ritual...is barbaric," Brennan said, her contempt clear in her voice.

The doctor opened his mouth to defend the surgery but was interrupted by Booth defending the ritual.

"Well, come on. Marriage is important to a lot of people, Bones," he said taking the papers from her.

"Well, it's ridiculous. No one can guarantee how they're going to feel about someone for life. We're not a monogamous species," she replied, reciting her long-held views upon the subject.

The doctor opened his mouth to offer his opinion on the subject but was cut off again.

"Marriage had been around since the beginning of time," Booth argued.

"Women from Amazonian tribes expressed their love by spitting in their partners' faces. I hope we've progressed past that," she said, almost, almost making a joke.

The doctor observed the scene with confusion, wondering at why the debate before him was even occurring and why both parties seemed to have such intense feelings on the subject. The whole scene made him somewhat uncomfortable, as though he had stepped into the middle of a...lover's quarrel.

"OK, well you know what, sometimes love...trumps logic," Booth said, playing what he thought was a winning card, being a true romantic at heart.

"Love is a chemical process which causes delusion," She dropped her gaze from his, struggling with the incredible irrationality and foolishness of the concept of true, binding, romantic love between two unrelated parties driven merely by lust and a series of chemical reactions in the brain, "An intellectually rigorous person would never get married," she concluded.

"Never say never," he teased with a smile.

"That's a paradox, it makes no sense," she said, frowning.

"Am I still needed here?" the doctor finally interceded when there was a lull in their argument as they locked gazes, facing off like two opponents in what could be described as a 'love match'.

They turned to him, suddenly remembering his presence. "Because if you two are having relationship issues I can..," he said cocking his head towards the door and suggesting that he would prefer to leave instead of remaining in the room to watch their battle.

"We're not a couple," Brennan said, wondering what would have possibly given him that impression.

"We just work together, that's all," said Booth, moving back behind his desk.

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"Aw, come on, Bones, huh?" Booth teased as he wandered through the racks of white and cream, lace and silk, and every variation of wedding dress a woman could ever desire. "You must have dreamt about being a bride before your heart turned to stone," he asked, picking up a dress to tempt her with before it was snatched away by a crazed bride-to-be.

Brennan dodged the woman. "Just because I don't want to take part in a meaningless ritual, doesn't mean I'm not a...warm and affectionate person," she said defensively, resenting the idea that a woman was somehow cold or unnatural if she showed no desire to walk down an aisle in a frothy white concoction and tie herself to a man forever with a piece of paper and words that so often were just that and were quickly and easily disregarded. "There are even some children who've taken to me," she added.


	4. Chapter 4

I wish I could write up more of this episode, but I don't have the time to transcribe it all. I've chosen the best bits. I hope you like it. Continuation of _The Cinderella in the Cardboard_. **PLEASE REVIEW!!!** Much love, Cat.

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"Now, I don't understand. Our lives are devoted to the pursuit of truth," Brennan

_Sometimes she was more naive than a child. _"Bones, you can't go around telling everybody what's on your mind even though it's the truth. OK, look. What if you and I were going out, right, and you were, you know, taking forever to get ready and you came out in this dress and I told you I didn't like it, what are you going to do?"

"I'd reevaluate, change, or ignore you," she answered simply and matter-of-factly.

"Of course you would, Bones, good answer."

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"You know, intellectually, I know that jealousy is absurd," Brennan reasoned, "but I see that it's real for people." She paused. "I even experience it myself," she admitted quietly, looking up at him for a moment before returning her gaze to the glass in her hand.

He said nothing, walking over to her slowly in that smooth, non-threatening way he had. "So, who are you jealous of?" he asked softly taking a seat near her.

"Angela, Hodgins, Cam, you," she said, each name coming out slowly as though it pained her a bit to admit her feelings.

"Why?" he asked, genuinely unsure of what reason she would have to be jealous of them all.

"Because you all want to lose yourself in another person...You believe that love is transcendent and eternal," she said somewhat contemptuously, still uncertain as to the verity of those claims, yet, "I want to believe that too," she said, dropping her gaze again, the information she had shared making her oddly defenseless and vulnerable.

"Hey," he said, wanting her to look at him with those beautiful big, gray eyes again. "You will," he said comfortingly. Booth moved over to sit beside her, "I promise. Someday you will."

She looked at him skeptically, doubting whether her intelligence could ever be overcome by such irrationality.

"You will someday. OK?" he said softly offering her his glass.

She clinked her glass against it in reluctant acceptance, marveling at how he was always capable of making her feel better.

"You will," he said again, surety resounding in his quiet voice. No, he was not always sure of what he thought about a possible murder suspect and did not believe in too many absolutes in life, but in this he was certain.

They drank in companionable silence.


	5. Chapter 5

This chapter is based off of quotes from Season 6 Episode 1. Again, they're quotes straight from the show but I'm filling in the texture and description. Hope you enjoy it.

As always, PLEASE REVIEW!

Much love, Cat

xxxxx

**Scene 1**

"I find it interesting that I'm only afraid of snakes when Booth is around to be jumped upon," noted Temperance.

Still waiting for the shock of the snakes to wear off, Daisy, for once, was at a loss for words. Besides, how did one respond when one's boss made a comment like that? So she stayed silent.

Temperance was almost disappointed at Daisy's response. She was so used to her team back at the Jeffersonian commenting on her life whether or not she had sought their counsel that she had gradually forgotten that their behavior was not the norm. _It wasn't Daisy's fault. What had she expected her to say? _Although she knew that a fear of snakes was irrational, especially since she knew how to deal with them…even more illogically, a part of her wished Booth was around to be jumped upon.

xxxxx

**Scene 2**

_Say something to him!_ "So, was it dangerous in Afghanistan?" Temperance asked.

"No," Booth answered quickly, "what I did was mostly administrative."

She regarded him for a moment. He had tried to speak as casually as possible but after their long working relationship she had learned to sense when he was being evasive. Also, the facts contradicted him. "Because you seem really very heavily armed in this photograph," she pointed out.

He decided to change tactics and steer the conversation in another direction. "What about you? Any headhunters or cannibals?" he joked irreverently. Despite his light tone he truly was fishing for information about what she had encountered during her trip. An anthropological study was likely safer than a war zone but that hadn't meant he'd never thought of her or been worried about her safety in the middle of the jungle.

"Daisy and I were attacked by some armed guerrillas," she said in that bland way she had of laying out the facts, "…but I…I beat them up and we got away."

It took a moment for him to digest what she had said. He'd almost missed the meaning of her words. He knew he couldn't do anything about it now, and that she'd been able to defend herself but still, he blamed himself for not being there for her. She shouldn't have to…

"I had to. You weren't there to save me," she said simply.

Her tone held no accusation. "Oh…Bones." He laughed. _If only she knew what he'd been thinking. _She had this gift of somehow carrying the conversation to the place his mind was wandering and dispel all of his tension. _Did she realize how much he'd relished being the one she depended on, her knight-in-shining-armor?_ Maybe they'd been too dependent on each other. He'd always eventually come bursting in to save the day. She'd fed his hero complex. _The time apart had probably done them both a lot of good. _Maybe if he kept repeating that to himself he'd start believing it.

xxxxx

**Scene 3**

"Sweetie," tried Angela. "Sweetie, can I get some attention over here?" she said teasingly.

"Yes," Temperance said, knocked out of her dormant state. "It's very good to see you…because, you are my best friend and I love you like a sister," she said sincerely, pleased at herself for remembering the phrasing she'd thought up while she was away. "Oh. Uh…I assume, not having an actual sister to use as a control," she added so as not to seem fallacious.

"Right," Angela said as encouragingly as she could. This far into their friendship she was surprised at how awkward Temperance still was. However, she did her best to hide that surprise from her friend as she knew that for all her boasting about her intelligence, Brennan could be very insecure about her behavior in social interactions. "Yes. Yes, I know." She wanted to ask the question but she wasn't sure how to word it. "So, um. What is the deal with Booth…is it weird seeing him again?" _OK. So she wasn't the most articulate member of the team._

"Not at all weird," Temperance was quick to correct. "Very nice." Wonderful, in fact. Comforting, like she was somehow completed as a person by his mere presence. Seeing him had relieved her worry about his constantly being in danger, although she was well aware of his prowess with firearms and his ability to effectively defend himself as well as others. Seeing him had also brought surprise and then discomfort, which she'd quickly smothered, when he'd told her he'd met someone. _Who met prospective romantic partner in a war zone? Was it possible to feel happy for someone and awful for oneself at the same time?_

Angela sensed that her friend was not being entirely truthful but she knew if she pressed her she'd get nowhere. Temperance would either misunderstand or pretend to not to understand in order to avoid the issue. "Are there any old surges…feelings…anything like that?"

"Booth fell in love in Afghanistan." One simple sentence. One sentence to sum up the realization of her fears, the hope she had that this woman would be able to give Booth and Parker what she could not, the pain she'd felt that he'd been able to find someone so quickly and easily… Men did have a tendency not to stay alone for very long after a relationship had been severed. And she _had_ been the one to do the severing. Still, it had been rare that a fact had been so unsettling for her, rare that she'd wanted to deny a an undeniably true statement more.

Angela was instantly sympathetic. "Oh. Oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry."

Was she still so obviously affected by him or was Angela merely basing her assumptions on old data? "Why? Are…are you in love with Booth?"

"Well, a little bit but that's not what I mean," Angela said dryly. "Don't tell me you're happy about him finding someone else."

"No, I'm very pleased for him," Temperance insisted. _Maybe if she said it enough times it would finally ring true._ "A committed, romantic dyad is exactly the kind of relationship Booth seems to require to be happy." _And what I couldn't, _can't_, give him._

"Did you think about Booth at all while you were away?" Angela asked. She knew her friend was hurting, knew she had to admit it before she could starting healing. Besides, a part of her was unwilling to give up on the Booth/Brennan fantasy. They just went together so well. And being together would make them both so happy, give them what they needed. And everyone could see it. It was like a movie that kept twisting and turning and refusing to come to its natural happily ever after.

"Yes, I did. A…a few times I actually dreamed about him," she admitted.

Angela jumped on this piece of information. "Oh. Well, there you go. Dreams are very meaningful."

Temperance wasn't sure if Angela was speaking of one of her new age artist philosophies or that nonsensical Freudian psychology but either way she didn't want to hear about it. It was all well and good for different cultures to place stock in the interpretation of dreams but as there was no real foundation for it she was not interested in applying it to her own life. "I dreamed about the work we do. I dreamed about catching murderers and getting justice for people who were killed" As she spoke, she could see Angela's interest fading. "…What does that mean?"

"It means you're going to die loveless and alone."

The finality with which Angela had said that depressed her. "I don't follow your reasoning." She certainly understood what Angela had meant, but she failed to see the actual correlation. However, to spare herself the debate she pretended as though she hadn't understood.

Thoroughly defeated, Angela ceased her line of questioning. "Sweetie, can you ask me how I am, please?"

"Well, I already know how you are. You love living in Paris and you don't miss murderers and violence," reasoned Temperance. No one seemed to miss their old lives. She did. She hadn't fully realized it until she'd gotten back and seen how everyone had scattered apart once the team had been disbanded. She'd missed having an urgent sense of purpose defining her life. She'd missed her makeshift family. She'd missed him. But he had someone else now. A real romantic relationship instead of bits and pieces of an unspoken desire. How could she compete?

xxxxx

Again, I hope you liked it. I have more quotes saved up for another chapter coming soon.

As always, PLEASE REVIEW!

Much love, Cat


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